

Danny believes that it was her way to get over her loss and meet new people. After a period of mourning, she threw herself back into the Phoenix social world. According to Sandra, it was hard for Jeanne to visualize life without him, because he was her "steadying factor". His children each received about $200,000. He left Jeanne an estate worth millions, including the house and a valuable art collection. She did not believe that everything Ed had was automatically hers. According to Sandra, she was not a greedy person. He also warned her that he had been arguing with his children, who did not like his remarriage, and encouraged her to be civil to them. He wanted her to have their house and be comfortable financially. He wanted to make sure she would be taken care of when he died. By 1982, he was virtually bedridden, and Jeanne nursed him around the clock. Respiratory problems had plagued Ed ever since his POW days. But there was one cloud darkening their life together.

They had a good marriage both liked to do the same things. According to her sister, Sandra, she treated people the way she wanted to be treated.Įd and Jeanne often entertained guests and had friends visit their house. He described her as a "special person with special qualities". Danny could not think of one person that disliked her. She was welcomed and became very well loved within the community. According to her friend, Danny Medina, she seemed to "fall right into it", as if she had had the money forever. She became an instant hit with the Phoenix upper crust. Less than a year after they met, Ed and Jeanne were married in a private ceremony in Hawaii.
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He helped engineer the famous "Great Escape", digging tunnels which allowed seventy-nine other POWs to go free it was popularized by the 1963 film of the same name. He was shot down and taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans. But he made his own name as a pilot in World War II. They had built a landmark in Phoenix known as the " Wedding Cake Castle" due to its appearance. His ancestors had made millions in the cattle business and were among the founding fathers of Phoenix. He embarked on an intense courtship, and she was swept off her feet. He had all of the qualities that she was looking for in a man. In 1971, one of her clients introduced her to Ed, a charming, wealthy divorcee.
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In 1970, she obtained her real estate license and became an immediate success. Several years later, Jeanne was well on her way. On her rest breaks, she studied real estate law, determined to make a better life for herself. She had no intention of spending her life waiting tables. In 1953, her marriage failed, and she eventually wound in Phoenix, working as a cocktail waitress. But her origins were humble: she was born in a small Arkansas farming community and married fresh out of high school. A virtual "Cinderella story" which ended in tragedy.Īt the time of her death, Jeanne was worth several million dollars, most of it inherited from her late husband, Edward "Ed" Tovrea. She was a well-known and well-loved widow, whose life was a "rags to riches" tale. Her murder sent shockwaves through Phoenix. Police concluded that Jeanne was the victim of a contract hit, but their strongest lead is, in itself, a mystery: a tape recording of a man who may hold the key to Jeanne's killer's identity. She had been shot five times at point blank range three of them had been fired through a pillow. The police dog headed straight for the master bedroom, where they found Jeanne dead in bed. Fearing an intruder might still be on the premises, they called in a K-9 unit.

The officers immediately found evidence of forced entry. The house belonged to fifty-five-year-old Jeanne Tovrea, a wealthy Phoenix socialite. Details: Just before 1am on April 1, 1988, police responded to a burglar alarm in an exclusive gated community in Phoenix, Arizona.
